Romeo and Juliet is a story of young love, violence, destiny, and hate. This captivating tale is told by many. One in particular is the modern day movie. Baz Luhrman directed this film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. In Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrman uses both color and sound in very interesting ways by themselves and together.
The use of color in this movie is wonderful. Baz Luhrman uses color to change the viewers feelings. He uses it all the time in sets, costumes, and props. He also uses it when editing the film. These changes set an aura and tone for the scene. For example when Juliet and Lady Capulet talk about Juliet's marriage to Paris, the scene is very happy because the colors in the rooms and costumes are brightly colored. Also, in the scene when Romeo and his friends are escaping the party the scene seems harsh and scary because the color scheme is dark and clouded. I think Baz Luhrman does a fantastic job of conveying important feelings by using color.
Baz Luhrman's use of sounds and music is very interesting. He uses the soundtrack to help convey the emotion the scene should spark in the viewer. He accentuates certain noises like guns falling, shooting, cigarettes being stomped out, and, water falling. These noises are very important to the movie so he makes them excessively loud to show how important they are. He also uses the music to help send the right emotion. For example in the scene where Mercutio dies the music is pounding so it tells the viewer to feel scared. I think his use of music and sound is really great and has a huge effect on the movie.
When these two come together magic happens. He uses different colors and sounds to express feelings or tones. When he puts the sound and color together the feeling you had with each one alone becomes much stronger. For example in the scene when Romeo and Juliet kill themselves the music is soft and sad, the colors are dark in the scenery but light and white in the costumes and props. This creates a very mixed feeling. In this scene the colors and sounds create the melancholy feeling Baz Luhrman wants you to feel. These aspects of the movie affect the viewer a lot.
